This invention relates to firearms and more particularly to electronic firearms. Specifically, the present invention relates to a bolt assembly adapted to fire electrically activated ammunition from an electronic firearm.
In electronic firearms, it is desirable to prevent leakage of gasses associated with the discharge of ammunition within the chamber of the firearm. In previously disclosed electronic firearms and in previously disclosed percussion firearms, gas leakage can be caused by the violation of the primer contact of a round of ammunition within the chamber of the firearm. Such violation occurs, especially in bolt action firearms, when the bolt assembly is closed on a round of ammunition within the chamber. If the firing pin protrudes too far, it may dislodge the primer contact of the round when the bolt assembly is closed and then locked. If the firing pin does not protrude far enough, it will not be in contact with the primer when the bolt assembly is closed and then locked. Accordingly, it is important to provide a means of controlling the protrusion of the firing pin when the firearm is closed, and especially in the case of bolt action firearms, when the bolt assembly is rotated from the closed position to the closed and locked position.
Previous bolt assemblies, upon rotation from the closed to the closed and locked position, were configured so that such rotation resulted in rearward motion of the firing pin with respect to the bolt face at the front of the bolt assembly. Such rearward axial motion was the result of the relative rearward motion of the bolt plug, which did not rotate, with respect to the bolt body. Because the firing pin was supported by the bolt plug, it protruded forward from the front of the bolt body, and when the bolt was closed, could puncture or dislodge the primer contact in a chambered round of ammunition prior to the rotation of the bolt into the closed and locked position. Furthermore, the rearward motion of the firing pin and bolt plug could leave the primer and the round unsupported and could result in gas leakage upon activation of the round.
In an electronic firearm having a round of electrically activated ammunition within its chamber, upon activation of the round, gasses are generated and can escape between the electrical primer contact, insulator, and primer cup of the round. Typically, the leaking gasses expand rearward and can damage the firing pin, its coating, the bolt face, or in extreme cases, the firearm itself. Recent ammunition design provides primers that will seal at maximum operating pressures and above, provided that the primer's electrical contact is properly supported by the firearm's firing pin during firing. Accordingly, there is a need for a means for maintaining contact between the tip of the firing pin and the primer contact at the rear of a round of ammunition within the chamber of the firearm. In addition, in bolt action electronic firearms, there is a need for a means of maintaining such contact during rotation of the bolt from the closed to the closed and locked position without subjecting the round of ammunition to unnecessary forces that can dislodge a primer contact from a round of ammunition and increase the likelihood of gas leakage. There is also a need for a means of providing support to a round of ammunition within the chamber of a gun to limit deformation and rearward extrusion of the primer contact in the rear of the round of ammunition during activation of the round. Such deformation and extrusion can lead to gas leakage.